The present invention relates in general to a gasification reactor operating at an increased gas pressure and including a tubular first pipe wall structure having a circular gas discharging opening on its top, an outlet connection piece including a tubular second pipe wall structure concentrically surrounding the gas discharging opening and being sealingly connected to the first pipe wall structure, and two separating cooling circuits for supplying a cooling medium through respective pipe wall structures. In particular, this invention relates to a cooling device including water spraying nozzles directed against the hot stream of producer gas exiting from the reactor.
Reactions taking place in a gasification reactor between the fuel, for example finely pulverized coal and the gasifying oxygen and steam produce final gasification temperatures between about 1300.degree. to 1600.degree. C. Depending on the softening behavior of fuel ashes at higher temperatures, it is required that the hot crude gas exiting from the interior of the reactor be cooled in a suitable manner below the softening point of ash particles entrained in the gas stream in order to prevent their caking and deposition during further processing.
The cooling of the hot crude gas also called quenching, can be made by admixing thereto a fedback stream of cool producer gas or by steam or by a direct spray of water. In spraying water the cooling of the crude gas results from the removal of enthalpy needed for vaporization of water as well as from the heating of stream to the quenching end temperature of the gas.
It is known to supply a cooling medium, particularly water into gasification installations operating substantial under normal pressure, through conduits opening into a gas outlet connection piece which is usually designed in the form of a double jacket arranged downstream of the gasification reactor.
In gasification installations operating at an increased pressure this prior art arrangement of spraying nozzles is not feasible in practice inasmuch as the gas outlet connection piece as well as other parts of the installation for stability reasons are designed preferably as pipe wall structures. Such pipe wall structures, however, do not allow the feed through of the supply conduits for the cooling medium for the nozzles without causing disturbances on the inner side of the pipe wall that is attacked by the discharged hot gas. The points of penetration of the supply conduits into the pipe wall structure enhance the baking on of streaming ash particles as well as various erosion phenomena.